Wake
by Starry Silver Night
Summary: Wake" Origanally By:Lisa McMann
1. Prologue

Wake

Originally By: Lisa McMann

Fanfiction By: Starry Silver Night

I DO NOT OWN NARUTO

Prologue

NOT ALL DREAMS ARE SWEET.

For seventeen-year-old Naruto, getting sucked into other people's dreams is getting old. Especially the falling dreams, the naked-but-nobody-notices dreams, and the sex-crazed dreams. Naruto's seen enough fantasy booty to last him a lifetime.

He can't tell anybody about what he does-they'd never believe, or worse, they'd think he's a freak. So Naruto lives on the fringe, cursed with an ability he doesn't want and can't control.

Then he falls into a gruesome nightmare, one that chills him to the bone. For the first time, Naruto is more than a witness to someone else's twisted psyche. He is a participant.


	2. Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

6 MINUTES

_**December 9, 2005, 12:55 p.m.**_

**Naruto Uzumaki's math book slips from his fingers. He grips the edge of the table in the school library. Everything goes black and silent. He sighs and rests his head on the table. Tries to pull himself out of it, but fails miserably. He's too tired today. Too hungry. He really doesn't have time for this.**

**And then.**

_He's sitting in the bleachers in the football stadium, blinking under the lights, silent among the roar of the crowd._

_He glances at the people sitting in the bleachers around him-fellow classmates, parents-trying to spot the dreamer. He can tell this dreamer is afraid, but where is he? Then he looks to the football field. Finds him. Rolls his eyes._

_It's Kiba _Inuzuka_. No question about it. He is, after all, the only naked player on the field for the homecoming game._

_Nobody seems to notice or care. Except him. The ball is snapped and the lines collide, but Kiba is covering himself with his hands, hopping from one foot to the other. He can feel his panic increasing. Naruto's fingers tingle and go numb._

_Kiba looks over at Naruto, eyes pleading, as the football moves toward him, a bullet in slow motion. "Help," he says._

_He thinks about helping him. Wonders what it would take to change the course of Kiba's dream. He even considers that a boost of confidence to the star receiver the day before the big game could put Konoha High in the running for the Regional Class A Championship._

_But Kiba's really a jerk. He won't appreciate it. So he resigns himself to watching the debacle. He wonders if he'll choose pride or glory._

**He's not as big as he thinks**

**That's for damn sure.**

_The football nearly reaches Kiba when the dream starts over again. Oh, get ON with it already, Naruto thinks. He concentrates in his seat on the bleachers and slowly manages to stand. He tries to walk back under the bleachers for the rest of the dream so she doesn't have to watch, and surprisingly, this time, she is able._

**That's a bonus.**

**1:01 p.m.**

**Naruto's mind catapults back inside his body, still sitting at his usual remote corner table in the library. He flexes his fingers painfully, lifts his head and, when his sight returns, he scones the library.**

**He spies the culprit at a table about fifteen feet away. He's awake now. Rubbing his eyes and grinning sheepishly at the two other football players who stand around him, laughing. Shoving him. Whapping him on the head.**

**Naruto shakes his head to clear it and he lifts up his math book, which sits open and face down on the table where he dropped it. Under it, he finds a fun-size Snickers bar. He smiles to himself and peers to the left between rows of bookshelves.**

**But no one is there for him to thank.**


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**WHERE IT BEGINS**

**Evening, December 23, 1996**

**Naruto Uzumaki is eight. He wears a thin, faded red-print shirt with too-short sleeves, off-white pants, gray boots, and a brown, nappy coat with two missing buttons. His short, bright-blond hair stands in messy spikes around his head. He rides on a Konoha train with his mother from their home in Leaf Village, Konoha, to Wind Valley to visit his grandmother. Mother reads the Globe across from him. There is a picture on the cover of an enormous man wearing a power-blue tuxedo. Naruto rests his head against the window, watching his breath makes a cloud on it.**

_The cloud blurs Naruto's vision so slowly that he doesn't realize what is happening. He floats in the fog for a moment, and then he is in a large room, sitting at a conference table with five men and three women. At the front of the room is a tall, balding man with a briefcase. He stands in his underwear, giving a presentation, and he is flustered. He tries to speak but he can't get his mouth around the words. The other adults are all wearing crisp suits. They laugh and point at the bald man in his underwear._

**The bald man looks at Naruto.**

**And then he looks at the people who are laughing at him.**

**His face crumbles in defeat.**

_He holds the briefcase in front of his privates, and that makes the others laugh harder. He runs to the door of the conference room, but the handle is slippery-something slimy drips from it. He can't get it open; it squeaks and rattles loudly in his hands, and the people at the table double over. The man's underwear is grayish-white, sagging. He turns to Naruto again, with a look of panic and pleading. _

**Naruto doesn't know what to do.**

**He freezes.**

**The train's brakes whine.**

**And the scene grows cloudy and is lost in fog.**

**"Naruto!" Naruto's mother is leaning toward Naruto. Her breath smells like gin, and her straggly**

**hair falls over one eye. "Naruto, I said, maybe Grandma will take you to that big fancy toy store.**

**I thought you would be excited about that, but I guess not." Naruto's mother sips from a flask in her ratty old purse.**

**Naruto focuses on his mother and smiles. "That sounds fun," He says, even though he doesn't like little baby toys that they sell at that store. He would rather have a new shirt. He moves his arms and winces when the fabric rubs into his arms. He thinks about the bald man and scrunches his eyes. **

'_Weird.'_

**When the train stops, they take their bags and step into the isle. In front of Naruto's mother, a **

**disheveled, bald business man emerges from his compartment.**

**He whips his face with a handkerchief.**

**Naruto stares at him.**

**His jaw drops. "Whoa," he whispers.**

**The man gives him a bland look when he sees him starring, and turns to exit the train.**


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

**September 6, 1999, 3:05 p.m.**

**Naruto sprints to catch the bus after his first day of sixth grade. Sakura Haruno, one of the Konoha North side girls, sticks her foot out, sending Naruto sprawling across the gravel. Sakura laughs all the way to her mother's shiny red Jeep Cherokee. Naruto fights back the urge to cry, and dusts himself off. He climbs on the bus, flops into the front seat, and looks at the dirt and blood on the palms of his hands, and the rip in the knee of his already well-worn pants.**

**Sixth grade makes his throat hurt.**

**He leans his head against the window.**

**When he gets home, Naruto walks past his mother, who is on the couch watching (Guiding Light) and drinking from a clear glass bottle. Naruto washes his stinging hands carefully, dries them, and sits down next to his mother, hoping she'll say something.**

**But Naruto's mother is asleep now.**

**Her mouth is open.**

**She snores lightly.**

**The bottle tips in her hand.**

**Naruto sighs, sets the bottle on the beat-up coffee table, and starts her homework.**

**Halfway through his math homework, the room turns black.**

_Naruto is rushed into a bright tunnel, like a multicolored kaleidoscope. There's no floor, and Naruto is floating while the walls spin around him. It makes her feel like throwing up. _

_Next to Naruto in the tunnel is his mother, and a man who looks like a blond Jesus Christ. The man and Naruto's mother are holding hands and flying. They look happy. Naruto yells, but no sound comes out. He wants it to stop._

_He feels the pencil fall from his fingers._

_Feels his body slump to the arm of the couch._

_Tries to sit up, but with all the whirling colors around him, he can't tell which way is upright. He overcompensates and falls the other way, onto his mother._

_The colors stop, and everything goes black._

_Naruto hears him mother grumbling._

_Feels her shove._

**Slowly the room comes back into focus again, and Naruto's mother slaps Naruto in the face.**

**"Get offa me," her mother says. "What the hell is wrong with you?"**

**Naruto sits up and looks at his mother. His stomach churns, and he feels dizzy from the colors. "I feel sick," he whispers, and then he stands up and stumbles to the bathroom to vomit. **

**When he peers out, pale and shaky, his mother is gone from the couch, retired to her bedroom.**

'_Thank God'_**, Naruto thinks. He splashes cold water on his face.**


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**January 1, 2001, 7:29 a.m.**

**A U-Haul truck pulls up next door. A man, a woman, and a girl Naruto's age climb out and sink into the snow-covered driveway. Naruto watches them from his bedroom window.**

**The girls is dirty-blonde and pretty.**

**Naruto wonders if she'll be snooty, like all the other girls who call Naruto white trash at school. Maybe, since this new girl lives next to Naruto on the wrong side of town, they'll call her white trash too.**

**But she's really pretty.**

**Pretty enough to make a difference.**

**Naruto dresses hurriedly, puts on his boots and coat, and marches next door to have the first chance to get to the girl before the North Siders get to her. Naruto's desperate for a friend.**

**"You guys want some help?" Naruto asks in a voice more confident that he feels.**

**The girl stops in her tracks. A smile deepens the dimples in her cheeks, and she tilts her head to the side. "Hi," she says. "I'm Ino Yamanaka."**

**Ino's eyes sparkle.**

**Naruto's heart leaps.**


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

**March 2, 2001, 7:34 p.m.**

**Naruto is thirteen.**

**He doesn't have a sleeping bad, but Ino has an extra that Naruto can use. Naruto sets his plastic grocery bag on the floor by the couch in Ino's living room.**

**Inside the bag:**

**A hand-made birthday gift for Ino**

**Naruto's pajamas**

**A toothbrush**

**He's nervous. But Ino is chattering enough for both of them, waiting for Ino's other friend, Sakura Haruno, to show up.**

**Yes, that Sakura Haruno**

**Of the Konoha North Side Leafs**

**Apparently, Sakura Haruno is also the president of the "Make Naruto Uzumaki Miserable" Club. Naruto wipes his sweating hands on his jeans. **

**It took a lot of convincing for Ino's parents to let him stay the night. One, being he was a boy, and 2, he was a thirteen year old boy. But thanks to a lot of convincing and a 'I swing for the other team' speech. Which he found out a year ago. Her parents finally let him stay.**

**When Sakura arrives, Ino doesn't fawn over her. Naruto nods hello.**

**Sakura smirks. Tries to whisper something to Ino but Ino ignores her and says, "Let's do Naruto's hair."**

**Sakura throws a daggered look at Ino.**

**Ino smiles brightly at Naruto, asking him with her eyes if it's okay.**

**Naruto squelches a grin, and Sakura shrugs and pretends like she doesn't mind after all.**

**Even though Naruto knows it's killing her.**

**The three girls slowly grow more comfortable, or maybe just resigned, with one another. They put make up on (to Naruto's dismay), and watch Ino's favorite videos of old comedians, some whom Naruto's never heard of before. And then they play truth or dare.**

**Ino's alternates: truth, dare, truth, dare.**

**Sakura always picks truth.**

**And then there's Naruto.**

**Naruto never picks truth.**

**He's a dare boy.**

**That way, nobody gets inside.**

**They might find out about her secret.**

**The giggles become hysterics when Sakura's dare for Naruto is to run outside through the snow barefoot, around to the backyard, take his clothes off, and make a naked snow angel.**

**Naruto doesn't have a problem doing that.**

**Because, really, what does he have to lose?**

**He'll take that dare over giving up his secrets any day.**

**Sakura watches Naruto, arms folded in the cold night air, and a sneer on her face, while Ino giggles and helps Naruto get his sweatshirt and jeans back on his wet body. Ino takes a hand full of snow and throws it at Sakura.**

**"Ew, gross," Sakura sneers. "Do you even know what's in that?"**

**Naruto's giggles increase. "I didn't do anything to the snow what about you Ino?"**

**Ino shakes her head.**

**Sakura laughs, reluctantly.**

**They trudge back inside for popcorn.**

**11:34 p.m.**

**The noise level in the living groom of Ino's house fades along with the lights after Mr. Yamanaka, Ino's father, stomps to the doorway and hollers at the three girls to shut up and get to sleep.**

**Naruto zips up the musty-smelling sleeping bag and closes his eyes, but he is to hyper to sleep after that exhilarating naked snow angel. He had a fun evening despite Sakura. He learned what it's like to be a rich kid (sounds nice for about a day, too many stinking lessons), and that Kiba Inuzuka is supposedly the hottest boy in the class (in Ino's mind), and what people like Sakura do four times a year (they take vacations to exotic places). Who knew?**

**Now the hushed giggles subside around him, and Naruto opens his eyes to stare at the dark ceiling. He is glad to be here, even though Sakura teases him about his clothes. Sakura even had the nerve to ask Naruto why he never wears anything new. But Ino shut her up with a sudden exclamation: "Naruto, you look simply stunning with your hair like that. Doesn't he, Sakura?"**

**For the first time ever, Naruto's hair is covered in an assortment of hair clips, and know, lying in the sleeping bag, he feels the clips pressing against his scalp through the thin pillow. **

**He'd keep them in. **

**They weren't really bothering him.**

**He had to pee, but he is afraid to get up, in case Ino's father hears him and stars yelling again. (It was harder to convince him) He rests quietly like the other occupants in the room, listening to them breathe as they drift to sleep. Sakura is in the middle, curled on her side facing Ino, her back to Naruto.**

**12:14 a.m.**

_The ceiling clouds over and disappears. Naruto blinks and he is at school, in civics class. He looks around and realizes he is not in his normal fourth-period class, but in the class that follows his. He stands at the back of the room. There are no empty seats. Ms. Kurenai, the teacher, drones about the judicial branch of government and what the Supreme Court justices wear under their robes. No one seems surprised that Ms. Kurenai is teaching them this. Some of the kids take notes._

_Naruto looks around at the faces in the room. In the third row, seated at the center desk, is Sakura. Sakura has a dreamy look on her face. She is starring at someone on the next row, one seat forward. As the teacher talks, Sakura stands up slowly and approaches the person she's been starring at. From the back of the room, Naruto cannot see who it is._

_The teacher doesn't appear to notice. Sakura kneels next to the desk and touches the persons hand. In slow motion, the person next to Sakura, touches her cheek, and then leans forward. _

_The two kiss. After a moment, they both rise to their feet, still kissing. When they part, Naruto can see the face of Sakura's kissing partner. Sakura leads her partner by the hand to the front of the room and opens the door of the supply closet. The bell rings, and like ants, the students crowd at the door to leave._

**The ceiling in Ino Yamanaka's living room reappears as Sakura sighs and flops onto her stomach in the sleeping bag next to Naruto. **'Cripes!' **Thinks Naruto. He looks at the clock. **

**It's 1:23 a.m.**

**1:24 a.m.**

_Naruto rolls to her side and he's walking into a forest. It's dark from shade, not night. A few rays of weak sunlight slip through the tree cover. Walking in front of Naruto is Ino. They walk for what seems to be a mile or more, and suddenly a rushing river appears a few steps in front of them. Ino stops and cups her ear, listening for something. She calls out in a desperate voice, "Choji!" Over and over, Ino calls the name, until the forest rings with her voice. Ino walks along the high bank and stumbles over a tree root. Naruto bumps into her, falls, and then Ino helps her up. She gives _

_Naruto a puzzled look and says, "You've never been here." Ino turns back to her search for Choji, her cries growing louder._

_There is a splash in the river, and a little boy appears above the surface, bobbing and moving swiftly in the current. Ino runs along the bank and cries, "Choji! Get out of there! Choji!"_

_The boy grins and chokes on water. He goes under and resurfaces. Ino is frantic. She reaches out her hand to the boy, but it makes no difference-the bank is to high, the river is too wide for her to come close to reaching him. She is crying now._

_Naruto watches, his heart pounding. The boy is still grinning and choking, falling under the water. He is drowning._

_"Help him!" screams Ino. "Save him!"_

_Naruto leaps toward the boy in the water, but she lands on the bank in the same spot she took off from. She tries again as Ino screams, but the results are the same. _

_They boy's eyes are closed now. His grin has turned eerie. From the water behind the boy, an enormous shark bursts above the surface, mouth open, hundreds of sharp teeth gleaming. It closes its mouth around the boy and disappears._

**Ino sits up in her sleeping bag and screams.**

**Naruto screams too, but it catches in his throat.**

**His voice is horse.**

**His fingers are numb.**

**His body shakes from the nightmare.**

**The two look at each other in the darkness, while Sakura stirs, groans, and goes back to sleep. "Are you okay?" Naruto whispers, sitting up.**

**Ino nods, breathing hard. She whisper-laughs, embarrassed. Her voice shakes. "I'm sorry I woke you. Bad dream."**

**Naruto hesitates. "You want to talk about it?" His mind is racing.**

**"Nah. Go back to sleep." Ino rolls to her side. Sakura stirs, rolls a few inches closer to Ino, and is quiet again.**

**Naruto glances at the clock. 3:42 a.m. She is exhausted. She drifts off to sleep...**

**3:51 a.m.**

_...he is jolted awake when he falls into a huge, beautiful bedroom. There are framed posters of *NSYNC and Sheryl Crow on the walls. At a desk sits Sakura, doodling on the edge of her notebook. Naruto tries to blink himself out of the room. He feels himself sit up in the sleeping bag, but his motions don't affect what he sees. He lies back down, resigned to watch._

_Sakura is drawing hearts. Naruto walks toward her. He says, "Sakura," but no sound comes out. When someone knocks on the bedroom window, Sakura looks over and smiles. "Help me open this window, will you?"_

_Naruto stares at Sakura. Sakura stares back, then points to the window with a jerk or her head. Naruto, feeling compelled, stumbles over to the window next to Sakura and they open it. Ino climbs in._

_She is naked from the waist up_

_And has breasts the size of watermelons._

_The breast sway from side to side when Ino scrambles over the sill._

_She walks through Naruto and stands shyly in front of Sakura._

_Naruto tries to turn away, but he can't. He waves a hand in front of Ino's face, but Ino doesn't respond. Sakura winks at Naruto and folds Ino into her arms. They embrace and kiss. Naruto rolls his eyes, and suddenly all three are back in Ms. Kurenai's civics classroom. Once again, Sakura is embracing someone in the aisle. It's Ino. She leads Ino to the front of the room. Naruto can see that no one else in the class gives an ounce of notice to the naked Ino and her enormous breasts. _

**Naruto sits up in his sleeping bag again and shakes his head wildly. He feels the hair pins loosen and some go flying from his head. He is still unable to remove himself from the classroom. He is forced not only to be there, but also to watch. **

_Sakura glides to the supply closet and leads Ino in there with her. Naruto against his wishes follows. Sakura closes the door once Ino and Naruto are inside and Sakura starts kissing Ino on the lips again._

_Naruto lunges in his sleeping bag badly._

_Kicks Sakura, hard._

**And Naruto is back in Ino's living room.**

**Sakura sits up, hair disheveled, and scrambles around to look at Naruto. "What the hell did you do that for?"**

**Sakura is furious. **

**Feigning sleep, Naruto peers out of one eye. "Sorry," he mumbles. "There was a spider crawling over your sleeping bag. I saved your life."**

"**What?"**

"**Never mind, he's gone."**

"**Oh, great. Like I'm going back to sleep now."**

**Naruto grins in the darkness. It's 5:51 a.m.**

**7:45 a.m.**

**Something nudges Naruto's legs. He opens his eyes, wondering where he is. It's pitch dark. Ino turns the sleeping bag flap off Naruto's head. "Wake up, sleepyhead."**

**The sunlight is blinding.**

"**Mmph," Naruto grunts. Slowly he sits up.**

**Ino balancing on her haunches, eyeing him, one brow raised.**

**Naruto remembers. Does Ino?**

"**Did you sleep well?" Ino asks.**

**Naruto's stomach twists. "Um…yeah." He gauges Ino's reaction. "Did you?"**

**Ino smiles. "Like a baby. Even on this hard floor."**

"**Ah, hmm. Well that's great." Naruto scrambles to his feet and untwists from his night shirt. "Where's Sakura?"**

"**She left about ten minutes ago. She was acting weird. She said she forgot she had a piano lesson at eight." Ino snorts. "Duh."**

**Naruto laughs weakly. He's starving. They fix breakfast. Ino doesn't appear to remember her nightmare.**

**Naruto can't forget it.**

**As they munch on toast, Naruto steals a glance at Ino's chest. Her breast are the size of half an apple, each.**

**Naruto goes home, falls into bed, thinking about the strange night. Wondering if this ever happens to anyone else. Knowing, deep down, it probably doesn't.**

**He falls into a hard sleep until late afternoon.**

**Decides sleepovers are not for him.**

**They'll never be for him.**


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**June 7, 2004**

**Naruto is sixteen. He buys his own clothing now. Often he buys food, too. The welfare check covers the rent and the booze, and not much else.**

**Two years ago, Naruto started working a few hours after school and on the weekends at the Leaf Nursing Home. **

**Now he works full-time for the summer.**

**The office staff and the other aids at Leaf Home like Naruto, especially during school holidays, because he'll pick up anybody's shift, day or night, so they can take a last minute sick day or vacation. Naruto needs the money and they know it.**

**He's determined to go to college.**

**Five days a week or more, Naruto puts on his hospital shrubs and takes a bus to the nursing home. He likes old people. They don't sleep soundly.**

**Naruto and Ino are still friends and next-door neighbors. They spend a lot of time at Naruto's house, waiting for Naruto's mother to pass in her bedroom before they watch movies and talk about boys. They talk about other things too, like why Ino's father is so angry all the time, and why Ino's mother doesn't like company. Mostly, Naruto thinks, it's just because they're grouchy people. Plain and simple. Whenever Ino asks if she can have a sleep over, her mother says, "You just had a sleepover on your birthday. Ino doesn't bother to remind her that that was four years ago.**

**Naruto thinks about Choji and wonders if Ino really is an only child. But Ino doesn't seem to talk about anything with sharp edges. Maybe she's afraid they might poke into her and then she'd burst.**

**Ino and Sakura are also still friends. Sakura's parents are still rich. Sakura plays tennis. She is a cheerleader. Her parents have condos in Fire Country, Earth Island, Earth Country, and somewhere in Cloud Country. Sakura mostly hangs out with other rich kids. And then there's Ino.**

**Naruto doesn't mind being with Sakura. Sakura still can't stand Naruto. Naruto thinks he knows the real reason why and it doesn't have anything to do with having money.**


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

**After working a record eleven evenings straight and being caught by old Mr. Reed's recurring nightmare about World War II seven of those eleven evenings, Naruto collapse on the couch and kicks his shoes off. By the number of empty bottles on the ring-stained coffee table, he assumes his mother is in her bedroom, down for the count.**

**Ino lets herself in. "Can I crash here?" Her eyes are rimmed red.**

**Naruto sighs inwardly. He wants to sleep. "Course. You okay with the couch?"**

"**Sure. Thanks."**

**Naruto relaxes. Ino, on the couch, would work fine.**

**Ino sniffles loudly.**

"**So, what's wrong?" Naruto asks, trying to put as much sympathy in his voice as he could muster. It's enough.**

"**Dad's yelling again. I got asked out. Dad says no."**

**Naruto perks up. "Who asked you out?"**

"**Shikamaru. From the body shop."**

"**You mean that old guy?"**

**Ino bristles. "He's twenty-two."**

"**You're sixteen! Ad he looks older than that."**

"**Not up close. He's cute. He has a cute ass."**

"**Maybe he plays Dance Dance Revolution at the arcade."**

**Ino giggles. Naruto smiles.**

"**So. You got any liquor around here?" Ino asks innocently.**

**Naruto laughs. "There's an understatement. Whaddya want, beer?" He looks at the bottles on the table. "Schnapps? Whiskey? Double-stuff vodka?"**

"**Got any of that cheap grape wine the winos at Shelby Park drink?"**

"**At your service." Naruto hauls himself off the couch and looks for clean glasses. The kitchen is a mess. Naruto has barely been here the past two weeks. She finds two sticky, mismatched glasses in the sink and washes then out, then searches through his mother's stash from her cheap wine assortment. "Ah, here it is. Boone's Farm, right?" He unscrews the bottle and pours two glasses full, not waiting for an answer from Ino, and then puts the bottle back in the fridge.**

**Ino flips on the TV. She takes a glass form Naruto.**

"**Thanks."**

**Naruto sips the sweet wine and makes a face. "So what are you gonna do about Stu?" He thinks there's a country song in that sentence somewhere.**

"**Go out with him."**

"**Your dad's gonna kill you if he find out.**

"**Yeah, well. What else is new?" They both settle on the creaky couch and put their feet on the coffee table, deftly pushing the mess of bottles to the center of it so they can stretch out.**

**The TV drones. They sip their wine and get silly. Naruto gets up, rummages around in his bedroom, and returns with snacks.**

"**Gross-you keep Doritos in your bedroom?"**

"**Emergency stash. For nights such as these." **_'Since Mother can't be bothered to buy any actual food at the grocery store when she goes there for booze,' _**Naruto thinks.**

"**Ahh," Ino nods.**

**12:30 a.m.**

**Naruto sleeps on the couch. He doesn't dream. Never dreams.**

**5:02 a.m.**

**Naruto, forced awake, catapults into Ino's dream. It's the one by the river. Again. Naruto's been here twice since the first time, when they were thirteen.**

**Naruto, blind to the room his physical body is in, tries to stand. If he can feel his way to his bedroom and close the door before he starts to go numb, he might get enough distance to break the connection. He feels with his toes for the bottles on the floor, and goes around them. He reaches out for the wall and finds his way into the hallway as he and Ino are walking through the forest in Ino's dream. Naruto reaches for the door frames-first her mother's bedroom (hush, don't bump the door), then the bathroom, and then his room. He makes it inside, turns, and closes the door just as Ino and Naruto approach the riverbank.**

**The connection is lost.**

**Naruto breathes a sigh of relief. He looks around, blinks in the dark as his eyesight returns, crawls into bed, and sleeps.**

**9:06 a.m.**

**When he wakes, both his mother and Ino are in the kitchen. The living room is cleared of bottles. Ino is drying a sink full of dishes, and Naruto's mother is fixing her homemade morning drink: vodka and orange juice on ice. On the stove is a skillet covered by a paper plate. Two pieces of butter toast, two eggs over easy, and a small fortune of crisp bacon rest on a second paper plate, next to the skillet. Naruto's mother picks up the piece of bacon, takes her drink, and disappears into her bedroom without a word.**

"**Thanks Ino-you didn't have to do this. I was planning on cleaning today."**

**Ino is cheerful. "It's the least I can do. Did you sleep well? When you go to bed?"**

**Naruto peeks in the skillet, thinking, discovering hash browns. "Wow! Um…not long ago. It was close to daylight. But I was so tired."**

"**You've been working ridiculous hours."**

**Naruto. "Yeah, well. College. One day. How did you sleep?"**

"**Pretty good…" She hesitates,. Like she might say something else, but doesn't.**

**Naruto takes a bite of food. He's famished. "Did you have sweet dreams?"**

**Ino glances at Naruto, then picks up another dish and whips it with a towel. "Not really."**

**Naruto concentrates on the food, but his stomach flips. He waits, until the silence grows awkward. "You want to talk about it?"**

**Ino is silent for a long time. "Not really. No," she says finally.**


	9. Chapter 8

**AND PICKS UP SPEED**

**August 30, 2004**

**It is the first day of school. Naruto and Ino are juniors. They wait for the bus on the corner of their street. A handful of other high school kids stand with them. Some are anxious. Some are terribly short. Naruto and Ino ignore the freshmen.**

**The bus is late. Luckily for Sasuke Uchiha, the bus is later than he is. Naruto and Ino know Sasuke-he's been trouble in school since ninth grade. Naruto doesn't remember him much before that-word was that he flunked down into their grade. He was often late. Always looked stoned. Now, he looks six inches taller than he did in the spring. His blue-black hair hangs in greasy ringlets in front of his eyes, and he walks with shoulders curved, as if he were more comfortable being short. He stands away from everyone and smokes a cigarette.**

**Naruto catches his eye by accident, so he nods hello. Sasuke looks down at the ground quickly. Blows smoke from his lips. Tosses the cigarette down and grinds in into the gravel.**

**Ino pokes Naruto in the ribs. "Lookie, it's your boyfriend."**

**Naruto rolls his eyes. "Be nice."**

**Ino observes him carefully while he's not looking. "Well. His pox-face cleared up over the summer. Or maybe the new fancy 'do hides it."**

"**Stop," hisses Naruto. He's giggling and feeling bad about it. But he's looking at Sasuke. Sasuke's got to be about dirt poor as Naruto, judging by his clothes. "He's a loner. And quiet."**

"**A stoner, maybe, who has a boner for you."**

**Naruto narrows his eyes, and his face grows somber. "Ino, stop it. I'm serious. You're turning mean like Sakura." Naruto glances at Sasuke. His jeans are too short. He knows what it's like to be teased for not having cool clothes and stuff. He feels himself wanting to defend Sasuke.**

"**He probably has shitty welfare parents, like me."**

**Ino is quiet. "I'm not like Melinda."**

"**So why do you hand with her?"**

**She shrugs and thinks about it for a minute. "I dunno. 'Cause she's rich."**

**Finally the bus comes. The ride is forty-five minutes to school, even though the school is less than five miles way, because of all the stops. Juniors like Naruto and Ino are considered by the unwritten bus rules to be upperclassmen. So they sit near the back. Sasuke passes by and falls into the seat behind them. Naruto can feel him push his knees up against his back. Naruto peers though the crack between the seat back and the window. Sasuke's chin is propped up by his hand. His eyes are closed, nearly hidden beneath his greasy hair.**

"**Fuck," Naruto mutters under his breath.**

**Thankfully, Sasuke Uchiha doesn't dream.**

**Not on the bus, anyway.**

**Not in chemistry class, either.**

**Or English.**

**Nor does anyone else. Naruto arrives home after the first day of school, relieved.**


End file.
